After thirty-nine years of providing professional live audio services, I've finally decided I've had enough. It's time to "retire" from the business. Yes, I do remember that it was only a couple of months ago that I built new equipment racks and added two more wireless mics to the PA. And that I've been adding mics and new speakers and lights and other gear steadily over the past couple of years. I've built up a really nice PA system. It sounds good. Maybe even great. But at a gig last Tuesday night, I realized that I was just plain done. It has ceased to be fun.

So, that's that. I'm retired. From the business of doing sound.

It's not like getting rained on is the reason for my getting out. If that were it, I'd've gotten out years ago! I've lost track of the number of outdoor gigs I've done where rain has delayed the start of a show, ended it early, or inserted a big, long, comma in the proceedings. The big reason is that I'm not getting any younger, and there are other things I'd rather do. Like enjoy going to concerts, or taking pictures, or "playing with trains", or playing in the band, or just plain doing nothing.

I probably won't get rid of much of my gear, if any, as we'll continue to use it for 7Souls shows. Keep an eye on the band's site for show info (or check the sidebar here). If you're looking for good people to do sound for your band or event, contact me, and I'll put you in touch with some of the area's best.

Setting up for DOGFest, in Dailey, West Virginia, on a particularly rainy weekend, sometime in the mid-to-late 80s.Image scanned from a really bad 3x5 print, taken with a Canon AE-1, and probably a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

A quick postscript here; if you've already got a gig booked with me, if I've committed to a job for you, I'll be there. But, I'm not taking on any new work.

Mix position for Midnite Run at this year's Gamber Fireman's Carnival. At left is an iPad Air 2 running the latest version of X-Air for iOS. On the right is a Raspberry Pi 3 with an Asus 19.5" touchscreen monitor and a Logitech wireless keyboard/track pad running X-Air Edit for Raspbian.

It's been about a year since I bought the Behringer X-Air XR18 digital mixer, and sold the Mackie DL1608 to a friend. Some of you may be interested in knowing how I feel about that after year's time, so here it is...

I'm generally happy, but the road has not been entirely smooth. Behringer support for the X-Air line has been, overall, pretty terrible. They did finally release updated versions of the mixer firmware, and an updated iPad app, along with updated control software for Windows/MacOS/Linux, and a sorta patched version of their Android app a couple of months ago. Otherwise, I've been more-or-less on my own to find answers when there have been problems. Fortunately, there are a couple of active groups on Facebook devoted to the X-Air mixers, where a sole Behringer employee occasionally pops in and helps out.

Notable problems I've had have included issues with the wireless networking, when using static IP addresses and an external WiFi router and the iPad. For some reason, they just can't talk in that configuration, so I've had to switch the mixer to DHCP. I've also found even the better, Mixing Station Pro Android app to be lacking when compared to the full-on X-Air Edit application for PCs. The newer version of the iPad app fixed a lot of shortcomings with the previous version, but of course, introduced problems of its own, and so it's still only marginally usable. Still, the combination of the PC, iPad, and third-party Android apps work well enough to get through pretty much any small or medium band gig, and it's pretty much perfect for conference mixing (the smaller XR16 or XR12 are perfect for DJs doing weddings and private parties, or for small permanent installations in conference rooms). If this combo of software can't handle the job, it's probably too big for the mixer, anyway, and I should be looking at using at least an X32 to handle it.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Who needs cake, when you can have Pi?

This led me to start experimenting. The results of my biggest experiment are shown in the lead picture for this story. I bought a Raspberry Pi 3, which runs a special fork of Debian Linux called Raspbian, and there's an official version of X-Air Edit to run on it, so I though that it could be a pretty good platform to us as a basis for a "super tablet". At $40 for the computer, what did I have to lose? At worst, I could use the Pi to experiment with other kinds of control applications or something. As it turns out, the Pi is more than powerful enough to run X-Air edit, and to control the mixer either over WiFi or a hard Ethernet connection back to the router.

The next step was to find a decent, affordable, large touchscreen monitor. I wanted something that would be the correct width to set into a standard 19" equipment rack, offer fairly high brightness so I could us it outdoors, and have decent capacitive touch control, preferably with "multi-touch" capability. Eventually, I found the Asus VT207N 19.5" LED Monitor, which had good specs on paper, and came at a reasonable price of about $185.

While the monitor does support multitouch, apparently Raspbian doesn't with this monitor, so I only get single touch capability. But, as long as I have a second device handy, or don't mind performing some functions using a keyboard and trackpad/mouse, it works reasonably well, although it's not bright enough for outdoor daylight operation without significant cover. Asus have recently released their own experimenters' micro computer, called Tinkerboard, that also runs a fork of Debian, which leads me to wonder if their implementation offers multitouch support. I'm not sure, at the moment, whether or not I want to spend the $60 to pick up a Tinkerboard.

During initial testing of the Pi, I tried using Audacity for multitrack recording, and I almost got it working. I am told that, with a good bit of tweaking, it can record up to 16 audio tracks. There are any number of reasons my tests didn't work, and someday, maybe I'll get back to figuring that out. I was able to get it to play back stereo audio into USB inputs 1 and 2, which can be routed to any fader pair. That's nice for break tunes, etc., though for that I usually just use an old iPhone set up to work as an iPod.

I debuted the large touch console at a gig last night, and it worked as expected. I connected it to the XR18 on stage over WiFi, and experienced no dropouts or glitches, thanks in part to using the external WiFi router. I had the iPad standing by, just in case, as well as an Android tablet. Of course, the laptop was hardwired to the router on stage. At some point, I'm thinking a couple of long Ethernet cables would be a "good thing" to have, though, to ensure reliable operation for high profile jobs. I'm also considering replacing the laptop in the stage rack with a similar Raspberry Pi/touchscreen configuration for monitor mixing. Performers using in-ear monitors can still handle their own mixes on stage with the Android tablets.

There a couple of other small things I still have to work out, too. For instance, I don't have headphone monitoring at the mix position. That means I can't PFL a channel, or listen to a sub mix or aux bus. I also don't have any talkback capability. I'm thinking that I can probably use Bluetooth for the headphone monitoring.

So where do I stand?

Last night, I stood in a field at a carnival grounds in rural Maryland and mixed a show, and it sounded good. And I had very little difficulty doing it (there was one wireless mic that was driving me nuts, but there was little I could do about that). I was probably more "at ease" with mixer than I have been since I bought it. There's a lot I'm still coming to grips with after a full year, and a lot I really miss about the Mackie (that iPad app was nothing short of superb!). On balance, though, I'm pretty glad I decided to make the switch. The overall sound is very good, and there is a plethora of excellent effects available. And, there are a number of features I have yet to even start to experiment with. Midas have now released their version of the mixer (the MR18 comes with Midas-made preamps, as opposed to being Midas-designed, and a higher sampling rate, at a Midas price), which uses the same core architecture, so I'm hoping that support will get a bit better soon.

During the gig last night, I was talking with another sound guy, and we both agreed that there is one thing that is sorely missing from the X-Air line, as well as from the small Mackies and the Soundcraft UI series -- an affordable solution to having actual physical fader control. There are times when a touch screen just doesn't quite cut it -- when, as an engineer, you really just want to be able to grab hold of a fader.

Every couple years, I take a look at the state of affordable keyboards, and lament that there's so little available. Well, not much has changed in that regard over the past couple of years. There was a brief glimmer of hope back in 2012, but since then, the field has all but depleted. Korg have discontinued both the X-50 and the PS-60, and Yamaha dropped the MM-6 and replaced it with the more expensive MX61. Casio's entries are still around, and Korg have replaced the PS-60 with something called Kross (61-key model).
From what I can see and hear, the Kross is largely a re-hash of the PS-60, but with a less user-friendly front panel. Gone are the easy-to-use live performance modes (two-touch layers and splits, quick mixes of combi voices, etc.), replaced by Korg's typically cryptic sequencer, moving it further into the realm of the "music workstation.," and further from a synth designed for live performance. By the way, if you are in the market for a well-priced music workstation that can go anywhere, I think this is a good choice, despite the cryptic sequencer and weak horn sounds.

Casio's XW-P1 looked great on the surface (and it's a big surface) and the sounds are quite good. But as I investigated further, I again found that cutting costs have made for an instrument with some difficulties. The process of accessing many of the sounds is the same as on my Casio CTK-6000 -- press a category button and spin the dial to dig through a list of related sounds. And, I'm less than impressed with the build quality -- the instrument certainly does not feel very robust. And while I do take the CTK-6000 to practices and the occasional gig, I tend to wonder how long it will be before something on it breaks.

Yamaha's MX61 is still a great-sounding keyboard, with a plethora of sounds from Yamaha's most excellent Motif sound engine. The keyboard has a good feel, and the controls for modifying sounds in realtime and creating splits and layers do fall conveniently to hand. But getting around, choosing sounds, etc., is a real pain for live performance.

So, I may be slow, but I am beginning to notice a trend: low-priced keyboards properly designed and built for live performance really just don't exist.

So what happens if the "price ceiling" is raised to, say, $900?

Not a whole lot, really, except that one more performance synth pops up on the list of options -- Roland's V-Combo VR-09. And that's a kind of exciting thing, I think.

The V-Combo VR-09 is the little cousin to the VR-700 and VR-760, which were absolute performance beasts. Roland appear to have done a bang-up job of condensing the V-Combo down to a lightweight 61-key instrument that is bred for performance.

The top panel is arranged into a half-dozen zones, three of which dedicated to the different groups of sounds, labelled organ, piano, and synth. Additionally, there is a real-time effects section, a drum/percussion section, and the data-entry/editing section.

Of particular note (no pun intended) is the organ section. There are modeled emulations of three different types of organs: "Jazz," "Rock," and "Transistor." The jazz and rock organs sound very much like Hammond tone wheels, while the transistor organ is very reminiscent of the Vox Continental. Customization of the tone wheel organs is really deep, and includes settings I've never seen on any emulator in the past. If you want to exactly imitate the sound of John Lord's B3 on Smoke on the Water, as recorded for the Live in Japan album, you could probably do it. One particularly interesting feature of the organ emulation is that, when in organ mode, the response of the keyboard is altered such that notes are triggered and released at the top of the key stroke, much like a real Hammond, whereas the other modes have a more familiar synth action. That's very cool for people who want to truly replicate organ playing, but are frustrated with other keyboards.

Favorite combinations of sounds, effects, and other settings (including layers and splits) can be stored in one of 100 "registrations" for easy recall, which makes the now ubiquitous "peck and spin" tone selection much more bearable. From what I can tell, the lack of direct-entry for tone selection is the only real shortcoming of this synth.

For those who want to dive into sound editing, there is a nifty iPad application that allows access to every parameter of the synth. In organ mode, the screen switches to a representation of the control panels on a tone wheel organ.

I've spent a few hours listening to demos of the VR-09 (not just Roland or dealer demo recordings -- I wanted to hear it in the hands of "real" users). The sounds are mostly amazing, and run the gamut from the aforementioned modeled organs to multi-sampled pianos, electric pianos, and class to Roland's lush strings and brilliant horns. Everything a gigging keyboardist could want ... and more.

Some months ago, I mentioned that I had ordered a set of Westone ES49 custom fit hearing protectors. I've had them now for several months, and I thought it would be a good idea to actually follow up and let you all know how they're working out.
To quote Tony the Tiger, "They're great!"

I'm quite happy that I had the fitting done professionally, as both ES49s fit me like a glove. They're comfortable enough to wear for hours on end. The standard 15db filters have so far been adequate (sometimes more than adequate) for my needs, reducing even the loudest sounds to a much safer level. There is very little degradation of the sound, with maybe only a little roll-off in the high frequencies.

Power Project rehearsals -- and gigs -- can get quite loud, and the ES49s have been a godsend. I our current rehearsal space, my right ear is naturally somewhat protected, but my left ear bears the full brunt of the drums, bass, and lead guitar, as well as the vocal PA. Subsequently, I usually wear the left protector fully inserted into my ear. Depending on what's going on, I can either not wear the right one, or have it only partially inserted.

I would recommend hearing protection to anyone who's in a band, or working in loud environments, and the Westone ES49 is a great choice for those who want a high-quality, custom-fit solution, but don't want to spend a huge amount of money.